Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Hold"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) from “buy” to “hold,” even as other analysts remain more positive overall with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy.”
• HPE recently reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $0.65 per share and revenue growth of 18.4% year over year, while also issuing FY2026 and Q2 2026 guidance.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including sizable sales by two EVP executives, while institutional investors such as Vanguard and Elliott have increased their holdings.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $27.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research note on Monday, April 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.41.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Price Performance

Shares of HPE opened at $33.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $43.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -174.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.28. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has a twelve month low of $17.02 and a twelve month high of $34.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.75.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $9.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.31 billion. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a negative net margin of 0.41% and a positive return on equity of 9.93%. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.300-2.500 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.510-0.550 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Hewlett Packard Enterprise will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Neil B. Macdonald sold 112,652 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total transaction of $2,826,438.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 56,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,417,434.46. This trade represents a 66.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Fidelma Russo sold 34,001 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.08, for a total transaction of $852,745.08. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 17,001 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $426,385.08. This trade represents a 66.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 702,402 shares of company stock valued at $18,440,171 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 173,058,714 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,156,870,000 after buying an additional 1,917,719 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at $901,751,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 34,869,143 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $835,626,000 after buying an additional 431,728 shares in the last quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 47.2% in the first quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 27,421,735 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $652,912,000 after buying an additional 8,790,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the fourth quarter valued at $433,537,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.78% of the company's stock.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Profile

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is an enterprise technology company that designs, develops and sells IT infrastructure, software and services for business and government customers. Its core offerings span servers, storage, networking, and related software, together with consulting, integration and support services aimed at modernizing and managing enterprise IT environments. HPE's product portfolio includes systems for traditional data centers as well as solutions for high-performance computing, edge computing and telecommunications infrastructure.

A major focus for HPE is hybrid cloud and consumption-based IT.

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